{"id":166303,"date":"2026-02-23T23:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T23:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166303\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T23:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T23:51:07","slug":"rhea-law-retires-as-usf-president-moez-limayem-takes-over-the-crows-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166303\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhea Law retires as USF President, Moez Limayem takes over\u00a0 \u2013 The Crow’s Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo courtesy of USF<\/p>\n

By Gage Johnson\u00a0<\/p>\n

After four and a half years as president of the University of South Florida, Rhea Law stepped away from the position on Feb. 17, with former University of North Florida president Moez Limayem taking the reins as USF\u2019s ninth president.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Law became the eighth president of USF in March 2022, making her the first graduate of USF to hold the role after acting as interim president in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a Feb. 9 university-wide email, Law reflected on watching the university transform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first arrived on campus as an employee and student in the 1960s, this was a small commuter school,\u201d Law said. \u201cToday, USF is one of the nation\u2019s leading public research universities and a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Association of American Universities is an organization of 71 North American universities focused on scientific research and education. In her interview with <\/a>\u2018Inside USF: The Podcast<\/a>\u2019, Law mentions the acceptance into the organization as one of her favorite moments as president.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have accepted us as a peer, and that is really meaningful,\u201d Law said. \u201cThat\u2019s the top 3% of research universities in America\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under Law\u2019s tutelage, USF also created the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing after a record-setting $40 million donation from Arnie and Lauren Bellini in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Law may be leaving her position as president, but she says she is not leaving with any uncertainty about the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUSF is on an incredible trajectory, and I know it will continue to climb under the stewardship of Moez Limayem,\u201d Law said. \u201cHe will bring proven experience as a university leader; extensive knowledge of USF, the Tampa Bay region and higher education in Florida; and a deep commitment to the success of our students, faculty and staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Limayem, the former president of the UNF from 2022 to 2025, is also a USF alum and previously served as the Lynn Pippenger Dean at USF\u2019s Muma College of Business from 2012 to 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During his tenure as the Lynn Pippenger Dean, he raised more than $126 million in private donations, including what was then a record-setting $25 million donation from Pam and Les Muna in 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As reported<\/a> by the Tampa Bay Times, Limayem has the eligibility to make $1.9 million in his first year at USF. In comparison, Law had a base salary of $825,000 in her last year with a total eligibility of $1.23 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his own university-wide email on Feb. 17, Limayem expressed his excitement to be back at USF.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs some of you know, returning to USF, where I spent a decade as the Lynn Pippenger Dean of the Muma College of Business, is a homecoming for my family in every sense of the word,\u201d Limayem said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Limayem also acknowledges that since his leave in 2022, USF has changed and in the coming months of his presidency, he plans to reintroduce himself to the USF community. This month, this included visits to both the St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee campuses\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know well that this is not the same USF I left in 2022,\u201d Limayem wrote in his email. \u201cPeople change \u2013 myself included \u2013 and institutions evolve.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t Post Views: 52 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>
Written by: Gage Johnson<\/a> on February 23, 2026.
Last revised by: Julia Ferrara<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy of USF By Gage Johnson\u00a0 After four and a half years as president of the University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-166303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}